Watcher from the Shadows
by FirenIce15
Summary: The princess of Albion is the daughter of the great hero queen and Reaver. These are her father's thoughts as he watches his unknowing daughter from a distance
1. Chapter 1

Watcher from the Shadows

**Summary: **The young princess Alexia of Albion is the daughter of Queen Sparrow and the famous (or infamous depending on who you're talking too) Reaver. These are his thoughts as he watches his child grow up and fulfill her destiny from afar.

**Pairings: **good Sparrow/Reaver, Princess/Elliot

**Rating: **M for Reaver's dirty brain

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing

Prologue

Queen Sparrow of Albion sat alone on her throne, the court session was over everyone else had left and yet the queen remained sitting alone, lost in thought. Suddenly there was a white flash and then the queen was no longer alone, a blind seeress was now standing in the room with her. "Theresa" the queen growled as she narrowed her eyes in anger.

"Come now, Sparrow" Theresa reprimanded her

"Is that any way to greet the woman who saved your life and raised you as her own?" the queen's glare intensified, Theresa sighed

"I see you anger remains as strong as ever, I suppose I should have expected such. The reason I came here is to warn you-"

"Let me guess" the queen interjected "you and your selfish manipulations have created some big new evil threat that will destroy Albion unless I get out there and stop it right?"

"No, this threat was none of my doing; it is an evil that was ancient before even I was born. It _is_ gathering its forces to attack Albion but it will not strike until well after you have died. Your child is the only one who will be able to defeat it."

"You're crazy, I love my son dearly but he is no hero, and I'm sure you know that as well as I do." The queen countered

"Indeed Logan is not a hero, therefore the only hope for Albion is for you to have a child with Reaver." Theresa said

"no way, that will NEVER happen." The queen refused, she despised Reaver; she was not about to let him anywhere near her body.

"There is no other choice, the hero blood has become so diluted over the years, that the only way a child can be a hero is if both of its' parents bare the blood of heroes, which your husband does not." Theresa explained

"then bring Garth back from Samarkand. I'd sooner sleep with a troll than Reaver." The queen ordered

"I could, but I'm afraid it would do no good, Garth's numerous experiments with will powers have rendered him infertile, so he could never give you a child. There are not very many men out there with the blood of heroes flowing through them, are you really willing to doom Albion and the rest of the world to eternal darkness, because of some grudge against Reaver?" Theresa responded and then disappeared as mysteriously as she'd come. The queen fumed, Theresa knew her too well, knew that Sparrow would do whatever she had to in order to protect Albion. She desperately wanted to believe the seeress was lying but her instincts told her otherwise, besides she was not willing to risk Albion's future on a gamble.

_The next week_

It was the end of another boring court session people were beginning to leave when the queen said to Reaver. "Reaver, I'd like to speak with you in private, if you have a moment."

"Of course, your lovely majesty, I, the dashingly handsome, Reaver am always at your service." The queen glared at him but motioned for him to follow her. She led him through the lavishly decorated halls to a section of the castle he hadn't been to in a very long time; so long in fact he didn't recognize it at all. She also seemed to be taking great pains to make sure they weren't seen by anyone. When they reached their destination Reaver thought he knew what she wanted but he'd learned before that Queen Sparrow was a hard woman to predict, so he decided to keep his suspicions to himself for the moment.

Once there inside the apparently unused bed chamber, the queen spoke "all right, Reaver, I'll cut straight to the chase, I need you to give me a child." His suspicions confirmed Reaver smiled, he'd known this day would come eventually, no one man or woman could resist his charms after all, although she'd resisted far longer than most, but that had only made the chase all the more fun. He was a true rake, one who enjoyed the chase much as he did the capture.

"Well, that's a novel way to put it, I must say, but my dear I always knew you'd come around eventually." Although he didn't like the queen that much as a person, she was the queen and having connections to royalty was always useful so he'd worked hard to improve their relationship. Besides she was rather attractive despite her advanced age plus it was one of his activities there was no way he'd say no.

"Get over yourself, Reaver" Sparrow snapped at him "I'm not doing this because of your non-existent charms, I'm doing it because I had a visit from Theresa." She practically growled the name; he knew full well how intense her dislike of the blind seeress was, because he had been forced to listen to her rant about how the seeress had manipulated the whole mess with Lucien, even her sister's death. The intense dislike of the blind woman was something he and her shared, in fact it was one of the few things they agreed on. "She said that if I don't have a hero child to face this coming threat all of Albion and the rest of the world will fall into permanent darkness." Okay, did she think he was stupid or something; there was no way he was going to believe such a ridiculous story. He said

"you really don't need to tell such stories my little minx; I'm always discrete about my conquests, you don't need to make up some vision to make sure Adrian doesn't find out about our little escapade." Sparrow's eyes narrowed in anger

"I don't lie Reaver as you ought to know by now, besides Adrian already knows, in fact he's the one who convinced me to seek you out."

"Really? What kind of husband tells his beloved wife to go sleep with another man; I don't think he deserves you." He said.

The queen now looked angrier than he could ever recall seeing her since the death of Lucien; Oops, might have pushed her a bit too far there, he thought, he had a tendency to do that sometimes. She slapped him as hard she could, hard enough to send him to the floor in fact. "Don't you DARE talk about him like that; he's a million times the man you'll ever be." She shouted. Quickly Reaver tried to think of a way to defuse the situation.

"If you say so, my dear" he replied let her take that however she wants. She relaxed a bit as some of her anger faded.

"You realize that once the child is born, you will have to stay away, the people will never accept the child if they know you're its' father, you're aware of that right?" she asked coldly, her anger was always cold like a glacier. He considered briefly and found that it didn't bother him, the act of siring the child would be no burden, sex had always been something he enjoyed very much and he didn't like children, snot-nosed little brats the lot of them. It was why he usually took great pains to make sure he never sired one, his bedroom was full of condoms all over the place so one was always handy whenever the mood took him.

"That's fine; I don't like children much anyway." He replied simply as he began disrobing.

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me" she responded sarcastically and she too began removing her clothes. That night they laid together, the hero of skill and the balanced fourth hero and a new hope began for Albion.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Reaver watched as Queen Sparrow waddled her way through the throne room to sit on the throne and formally begin the court session. At over eight months pregnant the Queen was experiencing all the classic symptoms, from the bizarre cravings (chocolate covered spinach really?) to the sudden mood swings to most noticeably (lately at least) her imitation of a penguin. He found himself feeling very glad that it was women who had to go through all that rather than the men although Queen Sparrow's trials should be ending pretty soon.

Walter leaned over and whispered, or more accurately attempted to whisper (he had never quite figured out how to talk softly when he wasn't injured) in Queen Sparrow's ear

"Your majesty, do you really think this is wise? You're due any day now; you really should be in bed."

"He is right, you know" Adrian apparently felt the need to add his two golds to the situation "Walter and I can handle things for a couple of days so-" he stopped abruptly as the queen silenced him with a glare. Reaver chuckled inwardly, Albion by and large was a patriarchal society, but there was no doubting who wore the pants in that relationship and it wasn't Adrian.

"All right then" the queen stated "Let us proceed with today's agenda, Sir Walter, if you would" despite the phrasing of the sentence as a question, her tone was one of command. Queen Sparrow was often like that, she would phrase her orders as requests but her tone made it clear that she expected others to conform to her wishes. It worked usually although Reaver thought it was a bit stupid, she was the queen, she shouldn't worry about offending the common rabble.

"Right" Walter said and then took a moment to consult his notes "Some local farmers are having difficulty getting their goods to the markets here in Bowerstone, they request that the crown help repair the roads in the area." The aforementioned farmer's stepped forward nervously, likely none of those peasants had ever been anywhere near the castle before or spoken to any noble let alone the Queen herself.

"You may speak" the queen said. The farmers began to recite the speech that had mostly practiced for days before hand. Reaver, however, was not the least bit interested so he didn't even pretend to pay attention. The roads around Bowerstone were good enough for him. A few bumps along the way made the trip more interesting, but if the roads were smoothed out that would be just fine too.

Sometimes he didn't know why he bothered to attend these things, other than the fact that the queen insisted that members of the royal court must attend each session unless they were ill (and no, being hung over did not count) or had some other legitimate excuse for not attending. She was very serious about that policy of hers. He remembered an incident that occurred shortly after she'd taken the throne.

After her coronation, she had graciously granted amnesty the surviving nobles who had tried to stop her from taking the throne (something Reaver certainly would never have even considered if it were him) provided they were law abiding citizens from that moment on. One of those nobles had decided he would not legitimize the rule of a 'peasant queen' and refused to attend any session or other gathering hosted at the castle. After a week or so the queen had had enough, the guards dragged the man into the throne room. The queen had reamed him publicly and also gave a speech about how _everyone_, from the lowest beggar to the queen herself had a duty to Albion and he/she had to do it to his/her best ability. Then she stripped him of his title and his lands (except for one small farm) and passed them over to his sister (he had no living male heirs) and as a punishment for failing to do his duty. Then on top of that she exiled the man to that farm claiming that if he thought it was so easy to be a peasant then he should enjoy it far more than the _exhausting_ work of being a nobleman. The other nobles had quickly gotten the hint, attend the court and everything will be fine, fail to attend and lose all claim to nobility.

Reaver frankly hadn't seen and still didn't see what the big deal was, most of the nobles didn't actually do anything during the court session; they simply stood there and listened to other people talk for a few hours, not very difficult. Still Reaver was somewhat grateful to the silly ass, because he had given him the opportunity to get on the queen's good side a bit. Shortly after the incident, the man was found murdered on the farm, he had been exiled to. Rumors quickly circled among the nobility that the queen had ordered it and there were speculations over who would be next. There were also talks of rebellion, to save their own skins, naturally.

Reaver, however, had never believed that; he knew that if Queen Sparrow (he never understood why she wanted to be called that) had wanted the man dead she would have done it herself in the court session. Sure enough, he was right; he found evidence that the real culprit was the dead man's uncle, a proud elderly man. The elder had been ashamed at the huge loss of honor that had been brought upon his family and had his nephew killed to punish him even further. Although Reaver believed that it had probably come as a relief to the pampered noble man. He made the said evidence public and the queen had somewhat reluctantly granted him a minor noble title and a spot on the royal court.

Reaver's musings however were interrupted when the queen doubled over in pain. Adrian immediately rushed to her side

"Darling, are you all right?" he asked her

"No" she said softly "my water's broken" Adrian froze for a moment and then he asked "what?" Reaver rolled his eyes, really, the man had done this once before, you'd think he'd have an idea of what to do. Reaver couldn't for the life of him figure out what the queen saw in this pathetic excuse for a man. Since everyone else was staring, it seemed he would have to take charge.

"I believe that the queen said that her water has broken, so here's what we're going to do. Adrian you go fetch the queen's midwife and tell her what's happened. Walter and I will help get her to the nearest bed, the rest of you…clear out, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here." Everyone stared at him blankly. "Do what he says!" the queen shouted and then doubled over as another contraction began. Finally people began to move, Adrian ran off and Reaver and Walter moved to either side of the queen. Together the three of them slowly made their way out of the throne room and down the hall to a nearby bedroom. Walter helped the queen onto the bed while Reaver stepped into a shadowy corner. He wasn't sure why but he actually wanted to watch this, curiosity he eventually decided he had never seen a woman give birth before, that was all. It wasn't because he was worried or anything certainly not. The midwife soon arrived and shooed both Adrian and Walter from the room but apparently she didn't notice that Reaver was there because she left him alone. Eventually after a lot of screaming, groaning, pushing and pulling, the midwife finally held up the baby and examined it.

"It's a girl, your majesty, and she's the picture of health." She announced. The queen smiled and held out her arms, the midwife correctly interpreting the gesture placed the baby in her mother's arms

"Please go get Adrian and Logan" the queen said. The midwife nodded and left. A minute or two later Adrian and Logan entered the room and came to stand beside the bed.

"She's beautiful, just like her mother" Adrian said, the queen smiled. Reaver rolled his eyes "oh brother" he thought to himself

"She's awful tiny" the six year old prince Logan said. The queen laughed a bit and then said

"Of course she's small, she's only a baby. Logan, listen, you're her big brother now, and it's your job to protect her because no else will do that like you will." Logan nodded and then as if he felt compelled to say something nice about her he said

"She has pretty eyes"

"Come Logan" Adrian said after a minute "Let's let your mother get some rest, it sounded like it was a difficult birth" Together the males left the room. Once they were safely out of earshot the queen said

"Reaver, aren't you going to come over here and greet your daughter properly?"

"You've got sharp eyes my dear" Reaver said and then he walked over to the bed. He examined her, the baby giggled and cooed at him. Reaver said with a pleased smile "She's going to be quite the little heart breaker when she grows up, mind you with us as her parents; it's only to be expected."

"Don't you go teaching her any of your bad habits, Reaver" the queen ordered. Reaver put on a fake scandalized expression "Really, my dear, what a thing to suggest!" In spite of herself the queen laughed (Reaver couldn't help but be pleased inwardly, he didn't often get that response from her) and then she asked

"Can you ever be serious?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Reaver responded. The queen decided not to even try and answer that instead she in a more formal tone said

"Anyway, thank you for what you did in the throne room today."

"No thanks necessary, your lovely majesty, I simply took charge because if I hadn't no one would have." He replied then taking the queen's suddenly formal tone as a sign that the conversation was over. He added "Well, it's late and I have things to get to-"

"Spare me the details Reaver, just go" the queen interjected

"Very well, your majesty" he replied with an exaggerated bow "tatty-bye" and then he turned and went out the door, on his way he thought he heard a female voice say "farewell, Reaver" but it was faint so he couldn't be sure.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Reaver didn't see much of his daughter while she was a baby which was good for Reaver. Babies did nothing but cry, wine and blubber all the time and Reaver wanted no part of any of that stuff. His first true encounter with young Alexia was when she was five years old. Reaver walked out into the garden after a particularly boring court session (all the court sessions were boring in Reaver's opinion but that one was the worst) out there he found that the young princess had somehow coerced her older brother into abandoning his studies for a while and playing heroes with her. He decided to watch them play, because he was bored and didn't have anything better to do. It seemed were they acting out some of their mothers adventures, Logan was playing Lucien while Alexia was playing Queen Sparrow but she was holding her toy gun the wrong way, Reaver decided that he simply had to correct her. He walked over to them and said pleasantly

"Hello there, what are you kids up today?"

"That's none of your concern Reaver" Prince Logan replied coldly, he may have been only eleven but he knew that this guy was bad news and didn't want him anywhere near his precious little sister. Alexia on the other hand was not aware of any sort of danger so she answered

"We're playing heroes, do you want join us mister ummm, what's your name any way?"

"My dear little lady, I am the famous Reaver, at your service" he replied with a grandiose bow "and I suppose I could join you for a few minutes-"

"We don't need any more players" Logan snapped Reaver however, acted as if he hadn't heard

"I must say that you are holding your gun the wrong way though"

"I am?" the five year old princess asked

"Yes, here let me show you properly" He moved toward the girl when her brother said very coldly

"I think you should leave now, before I call the guards" Although Logan was well aware of Reaver's reputation he couldn't believe that the rake was actually trying his moves on a five year old girl and no less a five year old than the princess herself, not while Logan was around he wouldn't! Just as Reaver was about to respond a female voice came from behind him

"There you are Logan" all three of them turned around to see Queen Sparrow approaching "Come; it's time for your history lessons"

"But mother" Logan protested while gesturing towards his sister and Reaver

"I'm sure, Reaver will keep your sister entertained won't you Reaver?" The queen replied. Reaver looked at the queen and then down at the little girl and gave a dramatic fake sigh and responded

"Oh, very well, I'll tell the poor ladies of Albion that'll have to wait a while longer" The queen simply rolled her eyes while Logan glared and the innocent little five year old cocked her head and asked "wait for what?"

"When you're older, you'll understand dear" The queen answered. The princess pouted she, like any kid her age, hated that response. "Logan, lessons now." Queen Sparrow ordered

"But mother!" Logan argued he couldn't believe that his mother would willingly let REAVER of all people watch his baby sister

"No more buts, Logan" The queen ordered firmly Logan gave Reaver one last death glare, but to his frustration Reaver seemed more amused by said glare than anything, then Logan headed back into the castle. The queen's eyes met Reaver's for a moment 'she's your daughter too; you should spend some time with her.' She seemed to say, without a single word. Reaver nodded to show he understood then the queen left.

"So, what were you saying about my gun" Alexia inquired holding up her toy. Reaver smiled and knelt down to the child's lever

"You're holding it wrong, here like this" he said and he briefly took the gun from her, took proper hold of it, though the toy gun's small size made it a bit difficult and then handed it back to her."

"You mean like this?" she asked showing him her new grip

"Perfect, see doesn't that feel better?" Reaver replied

"Wow, Mister Reaver, how do you know so much?" Alexia exclaimed with all the enthusiasm of a small child

Reaver couldn't help but smile, usually this type of thing annoyed him but for some reason coming from the little girl it was endearing and he replied

"Well, my dear, when you've been around as long as I have you pick up a few things"

"You don't look that old" the girl pointed out

"It's a gift" Reaver responded

"From who?" she asked him, taking Reaver slightly by surprise for once, he hadn't expected that.

"It's a secret." Reaver answered…that was probably a mistake

"You can tell me, Mister Reaver, I'm really good at keeping secrets!" Alexia pressed

"No, your mother will have my head!" Reaver argued

"You told mother but you won't tell me, that's not fair! You're mean!" Alexia complained

"Just ask your mother all right?" Reaver replied "There are some things you're too young to know about right now."

"If mommy says it's ok, will you tell me?" the girl asked

"If mother thinks its okay then she will tell you" Reaver replied knowing that given she was his daughter she would not be above tricking him

"Oh, all right" the little girl said but she kept pouting

"That's not going to work on me dear" Reaver told her

_Four years later_

Princess Alexia had been tired of being cooped up in the castle and so she had snuck out and somehow ended up in Millfields with no idea of how to get back. Reaver was passing by on his way to a late night party when he saw a small figure near the side of the road, his curiosity got that better of him

"Stop the coach" he ordered the driver obeyed Reaver drew his dragonstomper, one couldn't be too careful after all, and headed over to investigate.

When he reached the figure he demanded "Who are you?"

The figure turned and exclaimed "Reaver is that you?"

"I know who I am, who are you?" Reaver replied

"It's me Alexia" the figured replied as it approached and once it got into the torch light, sure enough it was Alexia

"What are you doing out here?" Reaver asked her. She started to answer but Reaver cut her off

"Never mind, get in you'll catch your death out here." He, of course would be fine no matter how long he stayed out in the cold, the wet, and the rain but Alexia on the other hand was vulnerable.

"Driver, turn the carriage around, we're going back home" The carriage moved and sprayed them both with mud. It spun around and pulled to a stop next to Reaver was furious and normally he would have shot the stupid man right then and there but these weren't normal circumstances, his daughter needed to get warm and dry fast; that meant the carriage driver would live…for now. The two muddy people climbed into the carriage and once they were aboard the driver took off. When they arrived at Reaver's mansion the driver stammered out

"Master Reaver, I'm sorry I-"

"Just clean up the carriage" Reaver snapped, not in the mood to deal with him right then, Together he and Alexia headed into the manor. Reaver ordered the servants to fetch two large tubs of hot water so they could wash themselves off and some new clothes for Alexia because hers were completely ruined. The tubs were brought quickly and to the princess's relief they were put in different rooms so she and Reaver could bathe separately. Unfortunately for Alexia none of Reaver's servants had children so the only piece of clothing that could be found that even remotely fit her was a black maid's dress but it was better than nothing so once Alexia was done bathing, which took quite a while she dried off and changed into it. Alexia sighed she was no longer cold and wet but she was starving, she hadn't eaten since breakfast, maybe the servants would fetch her something if she asked.

"Excuse me, ma'am" Alexia addressed one of the maids, the woman looked up, startled to be addressed in such a polite way "I'm really hungry, could you please get me an apple or something to eat?"

"Aren't you sweet, I'll get you something much better than an apple" the woman replied and dashed off. Moments after she left, Reaver came in. Normally Alexia would have been annoyed at being walked in on without so much as a knock but under the circumstances she could hardly complain

"Feeling better, my dear?" Reaver asked

"Yes, thanks to you." Alexia replied

"What were you doing out there?" Reaver asked the last time he had been that surprised was when queen sparrow somehow miraculously recovered the youth that the Shadow Court had taken from her…he still hadn't figured out how she had managed that little feat.

"I was bored…so I snuck out of the castle and I got lost" Alexia replied. Before either of them could respond the door opened and the maid from before walked in, carrying a tray loaded with a large piece of ham, a chocolate bar and a tall glass of water.

"There you are dear" the maid said as she deposited the tray in front of the princess

"What's this?" Reaver asked he certainly hadn't ordered any food brought in. The maid paled but the princess responded

"I asked her for some food, I haven't eaten all day." Her face had taken on a pleading expression behavior

"That's your own fault for sneaking out of the castle" Reaver replied. Now honestly, he was hardly in a position to complain about someone breaking the rules and normally he wouldn't care but this was his daughter, damn it; and if Reaver hadn't found her, she could have gotten in serious trouble. Alexia hung her head knowing he was right Reaver sighed "Oh, all right" then he addressed the maid "you can leave the ham and water but take the chocolate away" it was a compromise of sorts. The maid nodded grabbed the candy bar and left. Once she was gone Reaver turned to his daughter and spoke again "You can stay here for the night" he was not about to send her back out into the rain "I'll take you home first thing in the morning." Alexia with her mouth full of ham merely nodded "Good night princess" Reaver said and turned to leave. Alexia hurriedly swallowed the ham and said

"Lexi"

"I beg your pardon?" Reaver replied with no idea what she meant

"My friends call me Lexi" The princess explained. Reaver couldn't help smile, he was pleased that his daughter (even though she didn't know she was his daughter) considered him her friend

"Good night Lexi" Reaver said

"Good night Reaver" The princess replied and took a sip of water while Reaver left.

Early the next morning, the princess was awoken by the same maid who had brought her dinner the previous night

"Master Reaver requests that you join breakfast this morning before he takes you home." The woman told her. The princess yawned and said

"Ok, give a few minutes to wake up" the maid nodded in response. Soon the maid led the still slightly groggy (she was not a morning person) to the dining room where Reaver was waiting

"At last, the sleeping beauty has awakened" he announced without his entire usual Reaver attitude (he wasn't a morning person either) as a result of their both not being morning people they didn't talk much over breakfast nor later on their way to the castle. Once they arrived and the guards realized the missing princess was with Reaver, the pair was rushed to the Queen's and Prince Consorts chambers. Queen Sparrow was sitting on chair reading a book, Prince Consort Adrian was nowhere to be seen. When Alexia and Reaver arrived the queen snapped her book shut, loud enough to make Alexia jump; her mother was usually a very nice person but she was terrifying when she was angry

"So, where have you been?" the queen demanded Alexia gulped and answered

"I snuck out of the castle and I got lost. Reaver found me and brought me home"

"Is this the truth, Reaver?" The queen asked him

"As far as I know yes" Reaver replied for once making no efforts to flirt knowing that the queen was not in the mood for it

"Very well, Alexia you are confined to room until I decided what to do with you, go now" the queen ordered Alexia left as quickly as she could. Once she was out of earshot the queen's manner softened

"Thank you for brining her back, Reaver"

"Happy to help your majesty, after all, she's my little girl too." Reaver replied

"I'm glad you finally admit that, and I can tell Adrian I won the bet." The queen told him

"What bet?" Reaver asked

"The bet about whether or not you'd ever admit that you care about her." The queen answered with a mischievous smile and then her demeanor became serious again "you're not a heartless as you'd like us to believe Reaver."

"Your majesty, I have no idea what you're talking about" Reaver denied the queen merely shook her head

"Whatever you say Reaver" Then she opened her book again. Reaver taking it as a dismissal left without bothering to say his usual tatty-bye.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Princess Alexia was eleven years old when Prince Consort Adrian, the man she and the rest of Albion except for a select few thought was her father, died. It was a complete accident, the man was a tinker, he loved to build crazy contraptions and one day he was testing his latest creation and the thing exploded killing him instantly along with two of the servants who had been assisting him.

Reaver watched from the front row of the audience (with the other members of the royal court) as each member of the royal family made brief speeches in honor of the dead Prince Consort. He found himself feeling a bit conflicted. He had never liked Prince Consort Adrian and couldn't care less that he was dead, but Alexia (or Lexi, as she preferred to be called) was very upset about his death and Reaver didn't like that either. He tried to quash/ignore the feeling of envy that rose in his gut when she gave her speech about how much she loved her father, the things they used to do together and how badly she'd miss him now that he was gone.

_Adrian wasn't her father damn it!_ Part of Reaver raged internally _she should be glad that miserable excuse for a man is out of her life!_ While another part of him told himself that _this whole thing is pointless, I don't care what Lexi feels for Adrian, She's a tough girl she'll get over it. _Part of him was also pleased with how well Lexi seemed to be holding herself together, her voice wavered occasionally but other than that, she showed no visible signs of the grief he knew she was feeling, impressive for an eleven year old, but then Alexia was his daughter and no ordinary eleven year old.

Once he got that all sorted out (which took a while) he allowed his thoughts to wonder aimlessly because he was bored. That was one of the downsides of immortality, he spent a lot of time sitting around being bored, in fact it was one of the reasons why he spent so much time killing and having sex, they were just about the only things he never got bored with. _Can they just hurry up so we can go?_ Reaver thought to himself_ I have more important things to do then sit around and listen to a bunch of nitwits (not counting Lexi of course) sit around and praise that idiot, what Queen Sparrow ever saw in him is beyond me. For that matter why does she insist that people call her Sparrow anyway, surely if she wants to be called after an animal she can chose something more impressive than a Sparrow right? Not that I care really, not like it affects me in any way. _Finally after what seemed like an eternity to Reaver and more than a few of the other audience members, the funeral was over and they all headed inside to the castle's ball room (because it and the throne room were the only rooms in the castle large enough to hold the crowd and the throne room was ruled out for obvious reasons).

Having already offered his formal condolences to the royal family, Reaver spent much of the event dancing and flirting as one might expect of him. Eventually he noticed that Lexi was nowhere to be seen, and he became curious as to where she could have gotten to. He found her out on the balcony crying softly. He realized she must have come here to get away and let her emotions out; he turned around and started to leave. Lexi, however, must have heard his footsteps because she looked up and said

"Who's there?" and then she turned and added "Oh, hello, Reaver" and proceeded to wipe her eyes on her sleeve, a rather unprincessy thing to do but she was too worked up to care right then.

"Here, my dear, use this" Reaver said approaching her and pulling out a white handkerchief

"You carry a handkerchief?" Lexi asked

Reaver shrugged and replied "You never know when it might come in handy" After a rather awkward pause he added "I'm sorry for disturbing you, so I'll just go" and again he turned to leave but again he was stopped

"No" Alexia said "stay with me…please, I don't want to be alone right now." Reaver turned around yet again and responded

"Very well, my dear, as you wish" and he moved to stand beside her along the railing

"It's just so sudden, you know" Lexi began

"Yes, that is the way it tends to work with accidents" Reaver said normally, he would have thanked her for stating the obvious or made some other sarcastic remark (his quick wit was one of the many things the ladies, and more than a few men for that matter, loved about him) but today or tonight by this point rather, was not a normal time so he kept his comments to himself.

"We had a picnic in the garden that day for lunch and he was so excited, he couldn't wait to try out his new gizmo... Why? Why did he have to build that stupid thing, why did he have to tinker with things, why couldn't he have picked a safer hobby, like gardening or reading or something, why?" Lexi continued as if Reaver hadn't spoken at all. Before Reaver could come with a response to that Lexi suddenly threw herself on him and sobbed out "Why did it have to explode, why did he have to die?" and then she began crying in earnest.

For the first time in a long while Reaver found himself with no idea of what he should do. He was used to having women throwing themselves at him, on him occasionally even but they weren't usually hysterical and they certainly weren't weeping. In the end, he settled for simply wrapping his arms around her and letting her cry herself out, but he did not try to tell her any silly platitudes like "it'll be all right" because that would have been utterly pointless.

Meanwhile, the guests had started to leave and the ball room was getting close to empty. Prince Logan looked around and realized he couldn't see his sister anywhere. Eventually, he looked over to the balcony and saw Reaver with his arms wrapped around his little sister. Logan saw red, _the gal of that man!_ He thought _the sheer utter gal, making his moves on my little sister at our father's funeral! He won't get away with it_ Logan vowed to himself _I'll teach him a lesson he won't soon forget!_ He moved toward the balcony

"Logan, leave them be" a voice from behind him, ordered firmly

Logan turned to face his mother, the queen of Albion "Mother, look at them, he's clearly making a move on her, I won't stand for it!" he yelled. The few people that were still in the ball room stared, no one, not even her own son, shouted at Queen Sparrow like that.

"You do _not_ take that tone with me, young man. Besides, Reaver would never do anything to hurt your sister nor would he ever make a move on her."

"Do you really think Reaver will stay away from her just because she's the princess? Or has he gotten to you as well? Is that why you don't care if he hurts her?" He would have gone further but Queen Sparrow grabbed him by the ear and dragged him out of the ball room into a nearby empty room.

Once they got there, the queen pushed Logan inside hard enough to send him to the floor. Hurriedly he got to his feet.

"First of all, don't you _ever_ tell me I don't care about Lexi! Second, the reason I know that Reaver would never hurt Lexi is because he is her father!" The queen growled out

"What, how can you say such a thing?" Logan demanded

"I can say it because it's true" the queen replied then she sighed and her voice became less angry "this probably wasn't the best time to tell you but you should know, several years ago I had a visit from Theresa."

"The seer of the spire?" Logan asked

"Yes, Logan, now don't interrupt." Queen Sparrow answered then she continued on "she told me that a new evil was rising to attack Albion but that I would be dead before the attack came, that only my child could defeat it."

"but I'm not-" Logan protested his voice containing a mix of emotions, part of him was still furious at Reaver and part of him felt that it was unfair that he would never be a hero like his mother and that he must be a disappointment to her. Queen Sparrow looked up directly into her son's eyes (he was now taller than she was, although not by very much) and said

"You may not be a hero, but you _are_ my son and I will always love you very much understood?" Wordlessly Logan nodded, the queen continued on "she also told me that because the hero blood is so diluted now, a child can only become a hero if both of its' parents bare the blood of heroes and since Garth is infertile-"

"That meant Reaver was the only option" Logan finished for her.

Queen Sparrow nodded in agreement

"Did my father know...Adrian was my father right?" Logan asked

"Of course, he was your father, don't be silly" the queen answered "and yes, he did know. I told him about Theresa's visit as soon as she left. Lexi doesn't know yet though, I told Reaver he could decide when to let her know the truth, so you can't tell anyone else got that?"

Logan nodded, this explained why his mother had never told his sister to stay away from Reaver and in fact she had subtly encouraged her to seek out his company. Logan also knew that the people would not be happy if this truth came to light "Does anyone else know?" he asked

"Only very few people know, myself and Reaver obviously, Sir Walter, Theresa, and now you."

"You told Sir Walter?" Logan said surprised

"Yes, I needed someone to confide in and I knew he could keep a secret" Queen Sparrow explained.

After Prince Consort Adrian's death, it seemed the heart just left Queen Sparrow. She became withdrawn and stopped spending as much time with her kids (or anyone else for that matter); she also started handing off more and more of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the kingdom to Prince Logan. So no one was very surprised when just after Lexi's twelfth birthday, less than six months after Adrian's death, Queen Sparrow of Albion died.

Her funeral was even longer and more elaborate than he husband's had been, as all of Albion mourned the loss of their beloved hero queen (plus, they had had more time to prepare) afterwards Reaver found himself yet again standing on the balcony with the grieving Princess Alexia. Part of Reaver wanted to ask if she was all right but he knew that was stupid question because she obviously wasn't so what he said instead was

"How are you holding up?"

"I'm ok" Lexi said "well, as ok as anyone would expect. In many ways, it seemed like mother died the same day father was killed."

"Well, they were quite close weren't they?" Reaver pointed out, although he _still _could not understand why Queen Sparrow had married such a worthless wretch.

"Yes, all four of us used to be very close, that ended when father died" Lexi said

"What about you and Logan?" Reaver prodded, he knew they weren't spending much time together anymore but he wanted to hear the details from her

"Logan's been busy, he doesn't have much time for me anymore and it's going to get worse next week." Lexi said

"After his coronation, you mean" Reaver said but did not wait for Lexi's nod before continuing "well, I might be able to find some time for you, if you want some help on with your shooting technique or something?"

"Really, you'd do that?" Lexi asked, despite her grief at her mother's death she couldn't help but be a bit excited. Reaver was widely considered the best marksman in Albion and he was offering to tutor her in shooting!

"If you want me to" Reaver replied off handedly "can't have that pretty face getting all sad and lonely now can we?"

"That'd be great Reaver, thank you very much." And she smiled at him; it was a sad smile but a smile nonetheless

Reaver returned the smile and replied "my pleasure, dear princess, my pleasure."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It was the day before Lexi's seventeenth birthday. Reaver had decided that the day after that would be the day he told Lexi that he was actually her father. He had known that he would have to tell her someday but he had been putting it off. He kept telling himself that he was just waiting for the right moment but the truth of the matter was that he was really nervous. How exactly did one go about telling somehow that they had been living a lie their whole lives without knowing. Reaver was pondering that while he (and a few other poor sods) stood in the throne room waiting for King Logan to arrive so the court session could begin. Reaver could hear people shouting outside the castle but he ignored it, after all it wasn't important to him.

Suddenly, King Logan stormed in. He seemed furious about something, most people probably wouldn't have known that just looking at him because the King had learned from an early age how to mask his expressions, but Reaver wasn't most people, he could see the signs. Shortly after Logan had gotten himself situated, the doors to the throne room opened again and a couple of guards entered the room. They were escorting Lexi and her friend, Edward, Edmund or whatever his name was, Reaver didn't really care. He also didn't know why Lexi chose to associate with that servant boy, from what little Reaver had seen of him, the boy seemed rather dull and boring. However right now he was more concerned with trying to figure out what Lexi was doing here. Lexi almost never entered the throne especially not during a court session, he had frequently listened to her complain that Logan still treated her like she was five years old.

He noticed that the guards were nowhere near as rough with the princess as they normally were with poor sods that were being dragged before the king. For instance, they pushed the boy down to the floor but did not do that the princess nor did they touch him again after the princess had yelled at them to leave him alone. Slowly the two made their own way to the foot of the dais, while Reaver was getting increasingly confused…what was going on? Then Logan stood (which was an unusual thing for him to do during court but nothing about this particular court session had been normal so far so maybe that wasn't so strange) and spoke

"Here come the saviors of the people."

_Oh dear_ Reaver thought _Lexi's bleeding heart has gotten her into quite a pickle…I suppose it was only a matter of time_. For the first time in centuries Reaver actually felt genuinely worried for someone else, surely Logan wouldn't kill his own sister right? No matter how obsessed he was with defeating the Crawler. Reaver was the only person in Albion besides Theresa, the miserable witch, who knew of the Crawler. He had accompanied Logan on his trip to Aurora and wished he hadn't even though he hadn't been affected by the Crawler as much as Logan had thanks to the Shadow Court but still…wretched thing.

"Today, I have been betrayed by my own blood and a filthy spy" Logan continued

Suddenly Reaver understood what was happening. Lexi had tried to reason with her brother, tried to tell him not to kill the ringleaders of the mob… his little girl was quite the contradiction, on the one hand she could be quite devious when she wanted something but she was also incredibly naïve. Probably a result of inheriting her mother's do-gooder nature and being 'cooped up all the time' as she put it by an overprotective family in particular her big brother. Which is why she know found herself in this predicament.

Reaver scoffed when Logan essentially accused Lexi of wanting to overthrow him. Seriously, what a ridiculous notion; Lexi wanted to be a hero like her mother, traveling Albion rescuing innocent peasants from Balverines bandits and what-not. The last thing she wanted was to become queen and be stuck in the castle all the time. Surely, Logan knew that…unless the royal siblings had grown even farther apart than he'd thought. Reaver decided that it was probably just Logan's anger talking which made him even more worried for Lexi.

Reaver watched as Logan told Lexi to choose between killing her first real boyfriend (although Reaver didn't understand what she saw in him…she must have inherited her mother's lack of taste in men. He had thought that his genes would be able to counteract that but apparently not and the protestors. Reaver thought Logan was making a terrible mistake, by forcing Lexi to make this decision he was truly turning her against him. Lexi was slow to anger like her mother but like Reaver himself once her ire was raised it demanded a lot of payback before she would even consider forgiving the one who had angered her. Logan however was too far gone to care. Eventually, she chose to kill Elliot and spare the protestors. _Good riddance _Reaver thought _my daughter deservers far better than that pathetic peasant _although if Reaver was honest with himself he doubted there was anyone male or female in the world that was good enough for his Lexi.

Lexi turned to face her brother and told him "I will never forgive you for this"

"Good" Logan responded "then you'll never forget it" then he ordered the guards to take her away. Reaver was tempted to ask Logan why he thought that was a good thing but for once decided to keep his mouth shut. Reaver tried to follow them, knowing Lexi would need someone to comfort her but Logan's voice stopped him

"Reaver, I want to speak with you…in private" it was a command not a request. Normally Reaver did not take well to being ordered about but he had worked to long and hard to cultivate a good working relationship with the King to just throw it away, so Lexi would have to wait.

It turned out that he was not able to see Lexi at all that day. Reaver and Logan had spent hours bouncing around ideas on how to raise money to fight the Crawler and then when he had tried to go up to Lexi's chambers he was told that the Princess was not to be disturbed. He decided that if Lexi wanted to be alone then he would let her be…he had no idea what she was truly up to.

AN: I could have ended it there, but I decided that it had been too long since my last update so I decided to give you guys some more.

The next day Reaver headed to the castle for what was supposed to be the Princess's seventeenth birthday celebration…as far as he knew there would still be a ball for to celebrate her birthday, Logan had never said anything about canceling it, not even after that nasty incident the day prior. In some ways the King reminded Reaver of snake…seemingly cold-blooded but quite logical. If you anger the King, he'll punish you, but once it's done he holds no further grudges…assuming the offender is survives the punishment which was becoming ever increasingly rare.

As such, he expected the castle to be full of activity with people dashing about trying to get things ready for the ball that night but instead it was rather empty…something wasn't right. Reaver headed to the map room where he was supposed to meet Logan along the way he became determined to get some answers.

"Good day, your majesty" Reaver said as he walked into the room. Logan barely looked up from the map. Quite rude, but Reaver didn't let it bother him…frankly he was used to that sort of thing from the King particularly when he was troubled by something which he was always was anymore. Reaver decided to cut right to the chase and asked

"How's Lexi doing?"

"She's gone" Logan responded

"Gone…what do you mean gone?" Reaver asked. He was a bit fearful of the answer…had Logan decided to kill her after all. Had that been the plan all along but if so, why wait, why not it in the throne room where everyone could see. That would have been a powerful statement, a way of showing the people that the King showed no mercy to any traitors…not even if they were his own flesh and blood.

"Disappeared, Sir Walter and Jasper kidnapped her last night" Logan explained

First, Reaver felt relief, Lexi was still alive. Then skepticism entered his brain. He believed that Logan believed what he was saying but Reaver did not believe that Lexi had left the castle against her will. Besides, Reaver doubted that Jasper was capable of kidnapping anyone; the man would be utterly useless in a fight. Reaver suspected that Logan simply did not want to believe that his sister had left of her own accord so his brain found a less painful explanation. Logan's delusions were not Reaver's problem but he did sense their might be an opportunity here, Logan would likely be willing to pay a large sum to get his dear sister back to the castle and out of danger…and frankly Reaver would feel better as well. He wanted Lexi were he could see her

"Well, we'll just have to get her back won't we?" He said

Logan's face took on a pained expression "No" he responded surprising Reaver "We can't spare the resources…my sister will have to learn to fend for herself" Logan continued

"…Very well, your majesty as you say" Reaver responded. Although, he decided that he would use his vast information network, left over from his days as a…less respectable business man to keep tabs on what Lexi was up to even if he couldn't drag her back to Bowerstone Castle where she belonged.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Reaver was reading over the reports he had received from his contacts concerning his daughter's activities in Brightwall, apparently she had caused quite a stir among the populace. Most of it was along the lines of things he would have expected from Lexi. Rescuing a child lost in a mountain cave, retrieving multiple lost artifacts from deep in an unknown dungeon…although the last play was supposedly awful but oh well, that wasn't her fault. Some of them though, he didn't believe, really what possible would Lexi have possibly had to go running around the town of Brightwall dressed as a chicken? He had also learned that Lexi was forming a rebellion against Logan(no doubt at least partially due to that ghastly incident in the throne room the other day; he had known that Logan was making a huge mistake, but oh well, that was his own stupid fault, not Reaver's) . Normally, he didn't care about politics much, he was able to find a way to make good out of almost any situation but now he found himself concerned. Not for himself, he was confident that he would be fine regardless of how it turned out; no he was concerned for Lexi. It wasn't that he doubted her abilities either, she'd make a grand queen but he knew that she didn't want to be queen, Reaver didn't blame her, he wouldn't have wanted to be King either, he was perfectly happy where he was. Contrary to what some people might think he wasn't really hungry for power not for its' own sake at least, to him both were a means of getting what he wanted and he usually did that anyway. No Lexi wanted to be a hero, like him she loved a challenge and a good fight, she was probably pretty happy right now because she had plenty of both. Plus, she wasn't doing it alone according to the reports Sir Walter was traveling with her, Reaver was surprised to find he was feeling slightly jealous, that wasn't like him. Usually he would have just killed Walter and moved on with his life but if Walter died, Lexi would be devastated. He recalled how broken she had been after Adrian's funeral; he never wanted to see her like that again. Listen to him, he was getting soft, he was Reaver, he didn't care about anyone (except himself naturally) but then he heard Queen Sparrow's voice (or at least that's what it sounded like) in his head almost as if she was right there mocking him

"_You're not as heartless as you'd like us to believe Reaver" _it said

"Be quiet" he told it "you don't know anything"

"_Just admit that she's your little girl and you care about her, it won't kill you_" the nasty voice responded

"I do not!" Reaver argued

"_Then why did you take her to your home when she got lost, why did you comfort after Adrian's funeral, why do you want to know what she's doing now that she is not in the castle where you can see her?" _the voice asked

"I knew that if I brought her back, Queen Sparrow would be grateful and reward me for it." Reaver replied deliberately ignoring the voice's other questions. For the record, Reaver was well aware that he was arguing with himself but he also knew that everyone did it; it was only that most of them were too scared to admit it…he had said it before and he would say it again, people were so pathetic.

"_And the rest?"_ the voice asked

"Who are you anyway?" Reaver demanded

"_I'm your conscience; you know that part of yourself that you like to pretend doesn't exist?"_ Conscience answered

"Oh you" Reaver responded "I thought I got rid of you ages ago"

"_Don't be silly Reaver; you can never get rid of your conscience…no matter how hard you try"_

"Why are you bothering me anyway, why don't you just leave me alone, I have important things to do" Reaver said

"_But Reaver, you don't really want to be alone do you? No, you want to have people around you, sleeping with you, fighting with you or really, anything to keep you distracted. So you don't have to think about….HER" something_ about that last sentence didn't sound quite right, and then suddenly it hit him

"You're not my conscience, you're the Crawler, and you're supposed to be in Aurora not here bugging me!"

The Crawler chuckled "So you've figured me out, well it makes no difference. You have been to my lair and part of my taint is inside you, so even though I am not physically in Albion yet I can still whisper to you…Do you really think the Shadow Court will save you, no, those judges are too weak to match my power, and even if they could they won't bother, you don't matter much to them. After all, you just a coward who sold everyone he knew in order to cheat death. Well it will not do you any good, the children will swarm Albion destroying everything in their path…including you."

Reaver was not the least bit intimidated and instead he yawned "my friend, you clearly don't me as well as you think, I have heard that sort of thing many times before and it never happens, so really why don't you just save yourself and go back to sleep or…whatever it is you were doing?" Reaver replied

Again the Crawler chuckled "Ah, I do love it when the prey has some fight in them, yes, you'll be quite amusing, almost as amusing your precious little Lexi…oh surprised are we? Yes, I know about her, I also know that you people are pinning all your hopes on her. So ridiculous, you really think that slip of girl has ANY CHANCE AGAINT ME? I AM THE DARKNESS INCARNATE! EVERYDAY, MY POWER GROWS STRONGER AND SOON NOTHING WILL BE ABLE TO STAND AGAINST ME HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" and then creatures presence faded. So Reaver thought the Shadow Court's power can keep it from bothering me for long, that's a plus. Then another thought hit him, if it can bother me like this, it must be much worse for Logan, no wonder the poor lad is so testy all the time… he still needs to get laid though. In any case, Lexi would not be able to fight that thing all by herself, sure if she gained the throne, she'd have an army at her back but that wouldn't be enough either, she'd need another hero. Reaver sighed (purely mentally, of course, he would never display that kind of pathetic thing publically, no sir) and since there were no others. It looked like he would have to take his Dragon Stomper and go out to help save Albion… again…and this time he couldn't even blame it all on Theresa, well…he then thought several curse words some of which were so old that they were no longer used. Soon though, he mentally shook himself, that's all in the future, no sense worrying about it now.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Reaver is exploiting us!" a man's voice said. Reaver merely rolled his eyes, great another agitator with a big mouth and a tiny brain…don't they ever learn? Reaver went out the door to deal with the imbecile. Once outside Reaver rather loudly tapped his cane on the metal railing of the balcony but the man kept right on talking, how rude. Reaver tapped again but still the man just kept droning on and on. Since the man refused to silence himself, Reaver decided to do it for him. He pulled out his trusty dragon stomper, took aim and fired. One shot and the man was down on the ground in pain, Reaver didn't care whether the idiot lived or died, he just wanted the man to stop talking after all he had an important announcement to make and this ramble rouser was ruining it.

"Lying down is so much easier than standing up." Reaver said "My dear friends, in order to raise morale; I'm offering _prizes_ to the most deserving workers. The rules that will govern what I like to call the Reaver Team Spirit Award are these, firstly any workers that so much as murmurs another complaint" he was really very tired of all their whining, really they should be thankful that they have jobs at all.

"Will be shot" and to illustrate the point he shoot the wounded complainer again. Much to the horror of the surrounding crowd, good let that be a lesson to them

"Secondly, any worker who takes more than a three second brake will be shot." Really, a three second brake was more than generous; they were supposed to be actually _working_ while on shift. He didn't care what they did when they weren't at work but while they were on his property he expected them to be doing their jobs and _working_. To demonstrate his point, he fired another round.

"Thirdly, any worker who breaks any other rules, I have yet to formulate" he fully expected he would think of more rules to add in the future so he had prepared for that "Will, you get this, yes?" he asked as he tapped his hat with his pistol, he knew how slow peasants could be after all.

"Be shot" he said as he once again squeezed the trigger and shot the man, this time right in the forehead.

"You may return to work now. As you know I'm a generous man and likely to start handing out _prizes _right away. Go on then, off with you." He was really was too generous, he had given them two warnings and both of them were ignored, well; the fool got what he deserved.

A couple of hours after that someone (he didn't know or care who) told him that Lexi had witnessed the scene. Apparently, it had not gone over very well with her, the guy told him that Lexi had been shocked and horrified by what she had seen…he had never let her see that side of him. If it hadn't beneath his dignity, Reaver would have sighed…he was doubly glad Lexi had never been told about the Shadow Court, at this rate, she might come to believe that he was an evil monster, with help from the self-righteous Sir Walter, no doubt, Reaver had never liked him. Reaver, of course, knew that there was no good and evil, no right or wrong, there was only what worked and what didn't work but Lexi was too young to understand that yet.

Bah, he was being overly dramatic (most unlike him), a side effect, no doubt of the Crawler invading his mind…really now, what nerve that thing had to dare mess with his head like that? No, Lexi was a tough girl; she'd get over it in no time. Besides, he had a little _party_ to plan so dear Lexi would have to wait in any case; finally he would be rid of the annoying meddler Page or Pansy or whatever her name was.

Reaver had lived a long time but he was not a patient man…he was beginning to think the rebel had lied to him and that the leader wasn't coming. In which case he would just shoot the imbecile and be done…speaking of imbeciles, why, oh, why was he always surrounded by imbeciles?

Finally the doors opened and in came the rebel leader and…Lexi, oh my, he hadn't seen this coming but then he'd only just discovered she was in Bowerstone so he hadn't really had time to adjust his plans.

"My, my, my, more busy little bees here to steal Reaver's honey, so industrious, so committed, so bloody annoying." Reaver said Lexi wasn't annoying of course, well, not all the time anyway.

"When will you people learn to enjoy life?"

"I'll enjoy killing you does that count?" Paige asked. She was a feisty little thing, good; maybe she would provide a bit more entertainment that her underlings had.

"You're just full of spunk aren't you? A true heroine, you must be lightening under the bed sheets." Reaver replied not that he would have an opportunity to find out since the woman would be dead in a few minutes. "And now as promised, the evening's peseta le resistance, another piece of the resistance." Lexi was still trying to get the man out of the cage, she'd inherited his tenacity it seemed…although if he was honest, her mother and her brother were rather stubborn was well. Reaver pulled the lever that would activate the wheel of misfortune and Lexi finally dropped to the ground, landing smoothly on her feet. Reaver would relish this chance to see his daughter fight, up close and in person instead of just hearing about it.

"Do try to put on a good show for my guests, won't you?" The last few weaklings hadn't even lasted one round, quite disappointing really and very bad for his hard-earned reputation as thrower of wild parties.

"You expect us to entertain you?" Paige questioned angrily

Of course he did, it wasn't like they had any choice in the matter. "Of course, my sweet, it's a game. The wheel of misfortune, it's quite simple I spin, you die, we watch, really it's a riot." Reaver explained. Now, of course, Lexi wouldn't die, Reaver had been forced to watch one woman he cared about die, right in front of him, he wouldn't watch another, not even if it meant he had to shoot every one of his guests himself. He was confident, it wouldn't come to that though, he was sure that Lexi could handle this, although he hoped that the 'resistance' leader would fail miserably but if she survived, he would just kill her later, no big deal either way.

Reaver spun the wheel and landed on Hobbes. A bit tame, but it was just the beginning so maybe it made sense. Lexi went through the doorway first and she was smart enough to open the chest, he had so generously provided, like he had said before he really was too generous a man but in this case, it had paid off.

Lexi immediately began charging a spell. A combination fire and lighting spell…hmm, now that was something he had never seen before, it looked impressive. As he usually did, Reaver provided the commentary for the match and he did try to be somewhat impartial, although he mostly just commentated on what Lexi was doing, she was the important one after all. Before long the remaining hobbes closed in on her and she pulled out her melee weapon. Unlike her mother, it seemed Lexi favored the sword rather than a war hammer; Reaver agreed with that (even though he rarely used melee weapons at all) he had never liked war hammers, all brute force and no finesse. Lexi was keeping the hobbes busy with close combat while Paige fired her pistol from behind Lexi…not a bad tactic really, but Reaver would prefer it if there situations were reversed.

Before long the two ladies had destroyed the hobbes and moved on to the next round, the hollow men. Once again Lexi opened with a spell but this time instead of switching to her sword, she pulled out her pistol instead. Lexi had inherited both his love of guns and his trademark aim, not surprising considering that he had taught her everything he knew; in fact, she was the only student he had ever had. He could also tell quite easily, that if Lexi wasn't there Paige would be dead; the woman was already beginning to tire while Lexi was just getting warmed up, damn.

Anyway, both ladies survived the hollow men and it was on to the mercenaries. Her clearly heard Paige say that mercenaries were something that she knew how to fight, really, we'll see about that won't we? Reaver was quite disappointed in the mercenaries' performance. The men had managed to separate Lexi from the rebel but had not managed to kill the weak lady…they definitely had not been worth the amount of money they had charged but since they were dead that meant that Reaver didn't have to worry about paying them, so the whole night wasn't wasted.

It seemed his guests were beginning to get restless…if Paige didn't die soon, they might just do the job for him. The next round was the sand furies. It would be very interesting to see how Lexi handled them; after all, he was almost certain that she had never seen them before. Sure enough, Lexi was indeed caught off guard by them, but she recovered quickly. Lexi chose to imitate the sand furies' own hit and run type tactics, get off one or two attacks and then move away quickly before the target could retaliate, it seemed to work. Paige on the other hand, just stood there and let them come to her, stupid girl. She took a lot of hits but she just wouldn't die…it seemed she was harder to kill than a cockroach.

Reaver was a bit annoyed that the two ladies managed to kill all the sand furies…it had not been easy getting his hands on those things and they hadn't even lasted one party. Oh well, he'd just have to get some more that was all.

"I've really had enough of this" Paige muttered and for once Reaver agreed with her; he was getting a bit bored at this constant repeating pattern as well, although he was pleased to see that Lexi was enjoying herself. Truly, she was in her element…at least someone was having a good time.

"You holier than thou idealists always thinking in the simplest and most binary of ways but I quite agree this game grows tiresome and my guests, they grow restless." Reaver said

"No need to get restless, sweetheart" one of his servants told one of the female guests "Barry Hatch is here to take care of you. How's about a gig?" then he spun her around much to her displeasure. Reaver spun the wheel and it landed on Balverines but before he could announce that result he was distracted by a cry for help. He turned around and saw that one of his guests had transformed and eaten Barry, great, now he would have to find a replacement for him and that would take a while, Barry had been one of his more competent servants.

"Oh dear" he said "do you brutes have any idea how hard it is to find good staff? Still one might as well enjoy the show" then Reaver turned and looked down at Lexi and what's her name and

"Really now, what's the use of a secret society without a little secret, after all?" Reaver asked the ladies looking at their shocked selves. It was a bloody melee with the Balverines giving Lexi and her companion their toughest fight yet. Reaver watched (and kept providing his witty commentary) with his pistol ready, just in case, Lexi needed some help. However, this time he decided to let her know that he knew who she was

"You handle yourself rather well." He said "my suspicions about your true nature would seem to be correct." Neither lady responded to him, rather rude, but then he supposed they were a bit busy, trying not to get torn apart and all.

"This is the last party, I sneak into" Lexi said softly to herself but Reaver heard it. Really now, sneaking into a party is what makes it fun. She was oblivious to the Balverine behind her, quickly Reaver shot it and so did Paige, the creature went down immediately and did not get back up. Reaver put away his pistol, wondering if either of them would notice that two shots had been fired instead of just one.

"Well, I must say you made me out to be a somewhat poor host." Reaver said "Rather rude of you to dispose of all my guests"

Paige turned, glared at him and declared "now it's your turn Reaver" and she fired a shot at him which he smoothly deflected with his cane

"Oh my dear girl, why not stop all this bickering?" Reaver asked he was getting quite sick of it, honestly. "The three of us could go up to my quarters and have a private party." Not that he expected either of them to take him up on his offer.

"Do you have any idea who this is?" Paige demanded. Of course, he did. Reaver had known who she was the minute she walked in the door. Despite the frankly ridiculous outfit she was wearing and he found rather insulting that she would assume that he didn't. She gestured toward Lexi and added "the king's sister, the princess" really she has a name, why not use it?

"The king's sister, a bonefide hero, well, I wouldn't dream of coming between siblings" it was really just an excuse to leave and hopefully get them to go too "well, that's not strictly true there was that time-" that was a story that he doubted either lady would want to hear so he changed his direction and continued "good luck with this whole revolution lark" not that Lexi would need it and then he closed the door behind him just before Paige's second gunshot hit it. "maybe we'll meet again one day, tatty-bye."

He was certain that he and Lexi would meet again, whether after she gained the throne or before. Paige…well frankly, he would be quite happy to never lay eyes on that do-gooder ever again but he had a feeling that fate or whatever wouldn't be that kind to him.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

It was the day after the Battle of Bowerstone, Reaver had heard the sounds of battle all the way from his home in Millfields but he had not taken a role in the fight himself. This morning he had stood in the Throne Room and witnesses Lexi's coronation where she was crowned Queen Alexia I of Albion. The coronation although elegant had not been as lavish or as a long as King Logan's had been, Reaver didn't know if that was because it had been unexpected or if Lexi (he doubted that he would ever refer to her as anything else in his head) had specifically ordered it. He was of two minds about that, on the one hand it was a good thing because shorter ceremonies were always better in his opinion on the other however he also felt that Lexi deserved the best of everything, including coronation ceremonies.

Anyway, that had been this morning now it was the afternoon and Reaver (along with the rest of the Royal Court and the little people who had come as spectators, really didn't they have jobs or other things they should be doing?) was waiting for Lexi to arrive so the court session could begin. He wondered if Lexi was at all nervous, after all this was her first court session and she had not been raised and prepared for the responsibilities of running the kingdom, the way her older brother had…allegedly been.

As if his thoughts had summoned her, Lexi arrived…wearing a chicken costume. What in the world was she thinking, wearing such a ridiculous looking outfit?

"All stand to attention for the Queen of Albion" Walter announced as Lexi came down the red carpet. Reaver didn't understand why Walter told everyone to rise when no one was sitting down. Anyway, once Lexi had seated herself on the throne Walter spoke again

"Logan, former King of Albion, you stand accused of crimes against the Kingdom and its people, those who brought you to justice will now speak." Immediately each of Lexi's so-called friends urged her to order Logan's execution, didn't those fools know her at all? Lexi would never be able to forgive herself if she did that, he remembered how inseparable they'd been as children and although they'd grown apart as they grew older, Reaver believed they still loved each other…plus, Lexi had inherited her mother's bleeding heart. So her 'friends' either didn't know her or they didn't care about her, either way Lexi deserved better. He was surprised when the resistance leader spoke in favor sparing Logan's life, although in retrospect he probably should not have been, she was one of those annoying bleeding heart do-gooder types, he tried to ignore the fact that Lexi was in pretty much the same boat herself.

Logan did not wait for permission to speak out in his own defense. He didn't say anything that Reaver had not already known so Reaver didn't really bother to pay attention although he did notice that Logan directed his answer solely to Lexi…pretty much ignoring everyone else in the room, including Lexi's friends and their disapproving scowls…small-minded fools the lot of them. He understood that Lexi had needed their support to take the throne but now that she had it, why did she still keep them around? Didn't she know how tools worked, you use them and then you lose them, it's really quite simple. Reaver was slightly amused by the fact that Logan seemed more calm than many of the people urging his death.

Once everyone had said they're piece, they waited for the Queen to announce her verdict, although it was not at all silent because the crowd was still yelling, really this was why peasants should not be allowed in the castle or at least they have to pay to get in. Oh, that wasn't a bad idea; he'd have to remember to bring it up to Lexi later.

Eventually, Lexi stood and said in a loud firm voice "I will see justice done." Reaver was stunned, he couldn't believe Lexi would kill her brother (well, half-brother technically but she didn't know that) people immediately began murmuring and the guards began moving toward Logan "Hold, I said I would see justice done, but killing Logan would be merely vengeance not justice." Now it seemed people were confused what was going to happen to Logan? Reaver, however, was no longer interested, he had known that Lexi wouldn't kill Logan and he'd been right, as usual. "Logan has taken a very great deal from the people of Albion, justice demands that he give back more than he has taken, he can start by helping us defend ourselves against the Crawler after that…well, I'm sure we can find something useful for him to do." Then she moved closer to him and said softly "I forgive you" in gratitude. Then Walter announced that this particular court session was over.

"Reaver" Lexi called to him "if you have a moment, I'd like a word with you…in private."

Reaver nodded "Of course, my dear, I always have time for you." Lexi then led Reaver out of the throne room and into a nearby chamber.

"Reaver, do you remember that party of yours that Paige and I crashed?" she asked him once they were alone

"Of course, you two ladies killed off all of my guests." Reaver replied simply

"Yes, well they were trying to kill us at the time" Lexi pointed out but she did not wait for Reaver to respond before she continued on "You shot the Balverine that ambushed me from behind…why? I thought you wanted me dead at point" her tone was sad when she said that last bit

"No, my dear I'd never want _you_ dead…I only wanted to kill your meddling little sidekick." Reaver said honestly, he was pleased that she'd noticed. Lexi was torn, on the one hand she was glad that Reaver didn't want to kill her, growing up she'd always considered Reaver her friend and selfishly she didn't want to lose that (despite all of the horrible things he'd done) but Paige was her friend too…she didn't know what to think.

"That still doesn't explain why you shot the Balverine" Lexi said after a moment

"Simple that Balverine was going to kill you and I was not going to let that happen." He declared

"Thank you…but why?" Lexi asked

"Because" if Reaver had been a lesser man he would have sighed, this was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be but he wasn't a lesser man so he instead said "You're my only child, Adrian wasn't your real father."

"What? You can't be serious, my mother wouldn't do that!" Lexi exclaimed. Reaver winced internally (though he would never admit to doing so out loud) logically he knew that this was quite a shock for Lexi and she would need some time to adjust but he was still hurt and angry at the idea that she would prefer that miserable, useless, imbecile of a man over him

"She didn't want to." Reaver admitted "well, she said she didn't want to but I doubt she really meant it. Anyway, she did because Theresa had warned her that the Crawler was going to invade-"Lexi cut him off

"Wait, she knew, why she didn't tell anyone?" she demanded

"Probably because that idiot Theresa didn't give her any specifics that damn woman only told her that some big evil was going to invade Albion after her death." Reaver answered "who would have listened to that?" however Reaver's question was purely rhetorical so he didn't bother waiting for Lexi to answer before he continued "Theresa also told her that the hero blood was so diluted the only way to for a child to be able to born a hero both of its parents had to have the blood of heroes."

"That does explain why there are so few of us…I mean, as far as I know there's only you and me" Lexi stated but her voice carried a hint of questioning, she was probably wondering if Reaver knew of any other heroes that were still alive, both Hammer and Garth had passed on, and neither of them had borne any offspring, at least as far as Lexi knew

Reaver replied "it seems that way" to Lexi's ears his voice sounded a little smug about that but she let it go because she had other questions

"Does anyone else know about this?" she asked

"To my knowledge only Sir Walter and Logan, your mother was afraid it would cause problems if too many people knew." Reaver answered

"What?" Lexi yelled furiously "Was anybody ever going to tell ME about this?"

"I planned to tell you the day after you turned seventeen…but you and I both know what happened there." Reaver replied. Lexi nodded she knew all too well. For a while neither of them spoke and then finally Lexi said "tell Sir Walter that I'm going to my chambers and I am not to be disturbed…I some time to think" Reaver bowed slightly and said "as you wish, my dear, tatty-bye" and he left to go find Walter while Lexi went up to her new chambers (she had different rooms as queen than she had had as princess).


End file.
